 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
Protesting Mexican Sugar Workers Take Over Mills
 Miguel Hernandez - Associated Press
Veracruz, Mexico - Thousands of workers went on strike and took over mills in Mexico's 15 sugar-producing states on Tuesday to protest the federal government's opposition to a new production law.
The largest protests took place in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where 22 mills produce 35 percent of Mexico's sugar, as well as in the northern state of San Luis Potosi and the western state of Jalisco.
The government last week filed a constitutional appeal of the Law for Sustainable Sugar Cane Development, citing alleged inconsistencies.
On Friday, workers began a series of actions, including a 12-hour strike, to pressure the government to reverse its course.
Complicating the conflict, Agriculture Secretary Javier Usabiaga has announced that he is stepping down to run for governor in his home state of Guanajuato in central Mexico. The office of President Vicente Fox said it has not yet received Usabiaga's formal resignation, but Mexican news media reported that he turned it in on Monday.
Tuesday's protests took place in a majority of the country's 58 mills, 27 of which the federal government expropriated in 2001. The remainder belong to private owners.
Spokespeople for the national sugar workers' union said workers are protesting both the federal government's constitutional appeal as well as the government's alleged withholding of money to hire cutters and repair harvest machinery at the federally owned mills.
"The strike begins today and could be indefinite," said Rosendo Vargas, union secretary-general for La Gloria mill in the Ursulo Galvan region of Veracruz. "If there is no agreement, we are willing to block highways and organize a new national march to Mexico City to take over the central offices of the Agriculture Department."
Other sugar-producing states include Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Quintana Roo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Morelos, Michoacan, Colima, Chiapas and Campeche.
A nationwide strike would affect close to 270,000 sugar producers, said Juan Salcido, a representative of the Agriculture Department in the Veracruz capital of Jalapa. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us